The U.S. Senate on Thursday narrowly approved a measure that eliminates more than $1 billion in federal funding from public radio and television stations across the country.
The measure pulls $1.1 billion in funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which provides lifeline grants to public radio and TV stations that many small and rural-area broadcasters depend upon for their continued operation.
The vote was a culmination of a decades-long effort by conservative lawmakers to defund public media, a campaign reignited in recent months by concerns over perceived political bias and controversial content.
Prior to the vote, some lawmakers accused PBS and NPR of abandoning their duties to report impartial news in order to curry favor with progressive donors.
“PBS and NPR have become megaphones for partisan left-wing activism,” Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri said. “American taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize programming that glorifies radical gender ideology in schools or pushes to defund the police.”
The bill was primarily backed by Senate Republicans, who aired a number of grievances to support the notion that PBS and NPR were undeserving of continued federal funding, including NPR’s coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal and the origin of the coronavirus health pandemic. Some PBS and member station programs were also in the crosshair, including a YouTube video produced by PBS member station WNET (Channel 13) that featured a drag queen and an “Independent Lens” documentary called “Racist Trees” that aired on some PBS stations three years ago.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a similar measure last month, which also eliminates $1.1 billion from CPB’s budget. President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order in May focused on eliminating CPB support for PBS and NPR based primarily on political grievances.
Kate Riley, the President and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations (APTS), issued a strongly worded response to the Senate vote early Thursday morning.
“America’s Public Television Stations are devastated that the Senate voted to eliminate federal funding to the local public television stations throughout this country that provide essential lifesaving public safety services, proven educational services and community connections to their communities every day for free,” Riley said. “This elimination of federal funding will decimate public media and put local stations at risk of going dark, cutting off service to communities that rely on them—many of which have no other access to locally controlled media.”
Riley emphasized the historic role of federal support for public broadcasting, calling it an “exceptional public-private partnership that has educated generations of children, protected countless lives, and connected and celebrated communities large and small.”
The potential consequences of the funding cut are wide-ranging. Riley warned that the elimination of CPB funding would result in “immediate and serious cuts to stations’ local services and in some cases the total closure of stations, particularly in rural communities.” She added, “Public broadcasting is a lifeline in hundreds of communities where there is no other source of local media.”
In her statement, Riley pointed to a recent YouGov survey showing that public media enjoys broad bipartisan support, including 72 percent of Trump voters who value PBS for its children’s programming. “Federal funding is essential to ensuring that all Americans have universal access to the exceptional public services that local stations provide regardless of zip code or income level,” she said.
Riley also noted that the current federal investment in public media—approximately $1.60 per person per year—represents less than one one-hundredth of a percent of the federal budget.
“Federal funding for public media is irreplaceable and essential to local public media stations and the existence of the public media system as a whole,” she said.
As the House prepares for its final vote on the rescissions package, public media advocates are urging lawmakers to reject the measure. “America’s Public Television Stations strongly urges the House of Representatives to reject this devastating proposal and ensure that local public media stations throughout the country can continue their essential missions of public safety, education and community connections,” Riley said.
